Annihilate

verb

verb ·4 syllables ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To reduce to nothing, to destroy, to eradicate.

    "An atom bomb can annihilate a whole city."

  2. 2
    kill in large numbers wordnet
  3. 3
    To react with antimatter, producing gamma radiation and (for higher-mass reactants, especially composite particles such as protons) lighter particles (such as pions, muons, and neutrinos). particle
  4. 4
    To treat as worthless, to vilify. archaic

    "of all the opinions which Antiquity hath had of men in gross, those which I most willingly embrace, and whereon I take most hold, are such as most vilifie, condemne, and annihilate us."

  5. 5
    To render null and void; to abrogate. transitive
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  1. 6
    To cause to become zero by means of an annihilator operator

Synonyms

All synonyms
eliminateeradicateeradicateexterminateextinguishextirpate

Example

More examples

"In the end, one always ends up wishing to annihilate one's fellow man. Therein lies the sad fate of humanity."

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin annihilātus, perfect passive participle of annihilō (“to reduce to nothing”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from ad (“to”) + nihil (“nothing”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix).

Related phrases

annihilator methodself-annihilategamma radiationnull and void

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.